Typically products are transported to retail stores in crates, trays or cardboard boxes, which provide an effective means by which to transport large quantities of product and also protect the product while in transit. At the store, the contents are removed from the container, placed on a trolley, pushed to the point of sale and placed one at a time on the shelf. The packaging is usually destroyed or recycled. As product is sold the older stock is pulled forward and new stock placed behind the older product.
Maintaining full and faced up shelves requires considerable time and is very labour intensive. More recently, shelves have been fitted with dividers and/or a slip surface so that shelves can be angled to gravity feed. This reduces the time taken to manage product as stock does not need to be pulled forward as it is sold and can be rotated when new product is loaded at the rear. This has reduced the time taken to merchandise products in the store but has a number of disadvantages. In particular, the removal of product one by one from the packaging, placement on a trolley for transport to the shelf and subsequent loading onto the shelf remains a labour intensive task. It would be advantageous if the process of transport, unpacking, shelf filling and shelf maintenance could be streamlined and made less labour intensive.
By way of example, milk is presently brought to stores in crates. Crates provide an effective means for transporting high volumes of milk and also protect the product while in transit. Large numbers of crates can be stacked on pallets for efficient handling by forklifts and pallet jacks at production plants and distribution centres. On arrival at the store, the milk cartons or bottles are taken one at a time out of the crates and placed on dairy case shelves. Empty crates are stacked on top of each other but do not nest so they consume valuable space in the retail store. Later they are collected by the supplier and cleaned on return to the factory.
As milk is sold, new stock is loaded onto the shelf. The older dated stock is pulled forward so milk does not become outdated. Handling milk in this manner is labour intensive and costly. It is also difficult to keep the shelves clean. It would be desirable if the logistics involved a transport merchandising system which transported the milk to the store in shelf-ready packaging that could be placed straight on the shelf ready to gravity feed to the front of the shelf as forward product is taken by customers.
One attempted improvement was to place the loaded milk crates on a mobile platform or dolly in front of cool room doors. Customers lifted the milk directly out of the crates. However, this system poorly presents the milk. It was difficult to remove the larger bottles of milk from the crates and stock rotation was a problem.
More recently, some retailers have replaced crates on dollies with milk rear-loaded into gravity-feed shelves in milk racks or gravity-feed shelves in mobile trolleys. The shelves have dividers with slip surfaces to separate and gravity feed the milk. This system has superior milk presentation, better customer identification and selection and improved stock rotation of the milk. However, the system requires each milk pack to be lifted by hand out of the crate and individually loaded into the back of the shelf of the rack or trolley, which is also labour intensive. As well, dividers become soiled and are difficult to clean.
The present applicant's international patent publication WO2005/112710 discloses a product merchandising system in which product crates are transported from a supplier or distribution centre in a stack on a dolly that is configured to tilt the stack at the retail store to provide a gravity-feed display on the dolly from which customers can take the product. The product is not separately handled between supplier or distribution centre and customer, significantly reducing labour costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,628,068 describes an elevating truck having a main frame provided with castor wheels, and a lifting platform positioned within the main frame. The lifting platform is adapted to support equipment and is movable between a raised position and a ground-engaging position using a lifting mechanism comprising rotatable shafts and a pivot action.
International patent publication WO 98/19903 describes a portable cart that can be used to transport and move sensitive laser equipment. The portable cart includes a first frame support having spaced feet for selectively engaging the ground and a second frame support provided with wheels. The feet are outside the wheels. The first frame support is vertically movable relative to the second frame support by means of a motor.
Reference herein to any specific prior product, document or practice is not to be construed as an admission that the product, document contents or practice is common general knowledge, in Australia or elsewhere.
It is an object of this invention to contribute one or more improvements in the transport, distribution and merchandising of products in the retail supply chain.